Brian Banks 2019

Aldis Hodge as Brian Banks is a 27-year-old former high school football star living with his mother, Sherri Shepherd as Leomia, in Long Beach, California. Banks is on parole and registered as a sex offender after an incident 11 years earlier with a classmate, Xosha Roquemore as Kennisha Rice, when a quick kiss led to a false rape accusation after he fled when teachers approached. On the advice of his attorney, Banks pled no contest to rape and was sentenced to six years in prison. His childhood dreams of becoming an NFL player are crushed by the new life constraints that come with his conviction: an ankle monitor, a 2,000-foot radius away from schools and public gathering spots, and the difficulty of finding legitimate employment.

Desperate to clear his name, Banks turns to the California Innocence Project. The group explains that the system requires new, incontrovertible evidence before they will grant a retrial; this excludes DNA evidence, which was collected during the original trial but never used in Banks’ defense. The project is led by Innocence Project founder Greg Kinnear as Justin Brooks, who lays out the daunting bar they must clear to get a hearing.

With time running out, Innocence Project lawyers interview former classmates, but their testimony does not create enough doubt to overturn the conviction. Then a surprising Facebook friend request from Kennisha rekindles hope and spurs a plan to obtain a confession on tape that could prove the charge was fraudulent. Banks and friends execute the scheme, filming Kennisha’s confession without realizing she was unaware she was being recorded. Armed with the footage, Banks approaches the Innocence Project, but the tape is deemed inadmissible in a California court because the confession was not given under oath. Brooks instead releases the tape to the media, sparking public outcry over the perceived injustice.

Meanwhile, Banks’ parole officer warns that contact with Kennisha could violate his parole, though he allows Banks to wait until his parole expires before reporting any violation. Brooks then persuades Mateo, the district attorney, that Banks deserves a retrial. In court, Kennisha initially refuses to testify, alleging that Banks offered her $20,000 to deny the rape on tape. After a tense confrontation, Kennisha testifies that the bribery claim was a lie, casting enough doubt on Banks’ guilt to convince the judge to overturn the conviction.

Banks cuts off the ankle monitor and heads to a local park, where he enjoys a game of football with some local children. The final narration reveals that Matt Battaglia as Pete Carroll, a former University of Southern California coach who had once offered him a scholarship to USC, invited him to try out for the Seattle Seahawks; though he doesn’t make the team immediately due to the long stretch away from the field, Banks trains hard over the next year and eventually signs with the Atlanta Falcons.